#robotics Logs

Jan 02 2022

10:41 AM gartt: Tom_L: A robotic lawn mower makes more sense than a snow plow. Plowing is hard in that you have to be smart about where you push the snow, what angle you approach things at, what direction to push, etc. With cutting grass, you just move in some direction and eventually have to cover an area and that's it
11:22 AM Tom_L: gartt, rue_mohr likes a challenge
11:22 AM Tom_L: and he's already got a mower
02:30 PM -!- #robotics mode set to +Cnst by zirconium.libera.chat
02:34 PM -!- #robotics mode set to -o by zirconium.libera.chat
02:34 PM -!- #robotics mode set to -Cs by zirconium.libera.chat
02:34 PM -!- #robotics mode set to +o by zirconium.libera.chat
02:34 PM zirconium.libera.chat changed topic of #robotics to: 'If you ask a question, you must wait for the answer. | if you are muted see: http://git.io/zrffqw | P is for photoelectric.'
02:58 PM rue_mohr: I already have a robot mower
03:23 PM rue_mohr: all excited to get the pcbs
03:23 PM rue_mohr: hope I didn't blow it
03:31 PM gartt: Tom_L: Yeah, I saw from his website photos long ago. Pretty cool
03:31 PM rue_mohr: its still alive, it just needs new batteries all the time
03:38 PM gartt: Needs moar solar pernels. Slow motion lawn mowing
03:44 PM gartt: You need an outdoor charging station mini-shed, the equivalent to the roomba's indoor charging station that it's smart enough to navigate to
03:48 PM rue_mohr: that was all planned
03:48 PM rue_mohr: and burried fence & follow wires
03:48 PM rue_mohr: and a "get lost" button
03:48 PM rue_mohr: (go back to the shed and stay there the day)
03:52 PM gartt: It'd be quite a system even if it sounds simple at a high level
03:52 PM rue_mohr: fence and follow wires are easy
03:53 PM gartt: The nice thing is that whatever code you wrote and hardware you installed, you could use it for other outside robots with some modification
03:53 PM rue_mohr: heh ,uh
03:53 PM rue_mohr: it uses QBASIC on a 386
03:54 PM gartt: Yeah, but weather and getting it close enough to actually charge sounds tricky. I'll bet it took a few guys quite a while to do it for robotic vacuums which go to their recharging station on their own, reliably
03:54 PM rue_mohr: and I have not been able to successfully port the software
03:54 PM rue_mohr: well
03:54 PM rue_mohr: in a house it would be more complex
03:54 PM gartt: And that's indoors
03:54 PM rue_mohr: heh
03:54 PM gartt: rue_mohr: You wouldn't expect outdoors to have more variables/difficulties?
03:55 PM gartt: If you did something like that, make a youtube channel, then become enormously popular :)
04:05 PM Steffanx: Have the viewers drive the thing around. Within the set limits
04:07 PM gartt: Then profit wildly and buy the channel members something nice - like free pens
04:13 PM gartt: Steffanx: Yeah, those are neat. I like the idea of web interfaces to control robots anyway for the creator, so modifying the code for secure public control wouldn't be a big stretch
04:13 PM gartt: Web interfaces are perfectly suited for robots with cameras too
04:19 PM Steffanx: I would probably use twitch or whatever streaming platform
04:21 PM rue_mohr: no, I can burry wires in the ground for it to follow and stuff
04:21 PM rue_mohr: Steffanx, we did that once, and it didn't work out well, remember>?
04:36 PM Steffanx: Must have been before my time mr rue_mohr
05:02 PM rue_mohr: http://ruemohr.org/~ircjunk/robots/mowerbot/slide.htm
05:03 PM rue_mohr: sorry, starts off with lots of images of a gearbox upgrade
05:04 PM rue_mohr: I'v upgraded the disk to a CF card
05:04 PM rue_mohr: I think I started it in like 2000?
05:04 PM rue_mohr: lots of upgrades since
05:51 PM Atomsk is now known as ace4016
07:49 PM Malvolio is now known as Guest6790
09:32 PM Jak_o_Shadows_: I wonder if you can get JLCPCB to assemble your DIY DAC board cheaper than a DAC chip
09:33 PM rue_mohr: ... I didnt think to investigate
09:33 PM rue_mohr: I plan to release the design, but I'd like to get the baords back from osh first and make sure they work
09:35 PM Jak_o_Shadows_: Youd probably need to get like 20 made for it to work out
09:35 PM Jak_o_Shadows_: there's a setup fee and stuff
09:38 PM rue_mohr: mhm
09:45 PM Jak_o_Shadows_: Now, let's get this FPGA working
09:48 PM rue_mohr: ?
09:50 PM Jak_o_Shadows_: The EBAZ4205 artix-7 crypto-miner control board I got
09:50 PM Jak_o_Shadows_: I want to get the petalinux running on it's ARM cores